No SD Card Slot For iPad 2?

Over the last few months, rumors of an available SD Card slot on the second-generation iPad have been appearing on various iPad-related blogs.

Such an expansion slot would make it easier for users to load photos and videos onto the iPad without needing to use additional accessories.

Last week, cases that were reportedly designed for the iPad 2 revealed a possible SD card slot on the top left side of the iPad, opposite the mute switch and volume rocker. While case makers are not always accurate, sometimes they hit the mark.

However a new report now claims that the SD card slot is unlikely to appear in the iPad 2. Instead, the original cut-out believed to be for the SD card slot is actually being used for the SIM card to enable 3G service on the iPad 3G.

Other iPad 2 cases that have not shown the SIM card cut-out, as we have seen, were likely for the iPad WiFi.

In a mockup analysis of all the openings and recesses in those cases, it was speculated that that left-side opening could represent the much-rumored SD Card slot. However, a person that AppleInsider trusts on matters such as these has since rebutted that notion, stating instead that the break in the next-gen iPad enclosure at that location is actually a relocation of the tablet’s SIM card slot.

As Apple is expected to launch the next-generation iPad this Spring 2011, are you expecting a SD card slot?